This is the second beta release for Brian 2.0, we recommend all users of Brian 2
to upgrade. If you are a user new to Brian, we also recommend to directly start
with Brian 2 instead of using the stable release of Brian 1.

Multi-compartmental simulations can now be run using the
C++ standalone mode (this is not yet well-tested, though).

The implementation of TimedArray now supports two-dimensional arrays, i.e.
different input per neuron (or synapse, etc.), see Timed arrays for
details.

Previously, not setting a code generation target (using the codegen.target
preference) would mean that the numpy target was used. Now,
the default target is auto, which means that a compiled language
(weave or cython) will be used if possible. See
Computational methods and efficiency for details.

The implementation of SpikeGeneratorGroup has been improved and it now
supports a period argument to repeatedly generate a spike pattern.

This is the first beta release for Brian 2.0 and the first version of Brian 2.0
we recommend for general use. From now on, we will try to keep changes that
break existing code to a minimum. If you are a user new to Brian, we’d
recommend to start with the Brian 2 beta instead of using the stable release of
Brian 1.

A temporary “bridge” for brian.hears that allows to use its Brian 1
version from Brian 2 (Brian 1 Hears bridge)

Cython is now a new code generation target, therefore the performance benefits
of compiled code are now also available to users running simulations under
Python 3.x (where scipy.weave is not available)

Networks can now store their current state and return to it at a later time,
e.g. for simulating multiple trials starting from a fixed network state
(Continuing/repeating simulations)

C++ standalone mode: multiple processors are now supported via OpenMP
(Multi-threading with OpenMP), although this code has not yet been well tested so may be
inaccurate.

C++ standalone mode: after a run, state variables and monitored values can
be loaded from disk transparently. Most scripts therefore only need two
additional lines to use standalone mode instead of Brian’s default runtime
mode (C++ standalone).

The syntax and semantics of everything around simulation time steps, clocks,
and multiple runs have been cleaned up, making reinit obsolete and also
making it unnecessary for most users to explicitly generate Clock objects –
instead, a dt keyword can be specified for objects such as NeuronGroup
(Running a simulation)

The scalar flag for parameters/subexpressions has been renamed to
shared

The “unit” for boolean variables has been renamed from bool to boolean